L A MALINCHE
Inspired by La Malinche
L
Delilah Montoya’s codex creates visual mythology.
A MALINCHE’S STORY IS
create a contemporary codex for the
similar to animal skin. Their pages
COMPLICATED: We know she
1992 exhibition The Chicano Codices:
folded accordion-style and contained
was Nahua royalty, enslaved
Encountering the Art of the Americas, at
pictographs or glyphs that oral
to Hernán Cortés, nicknamed
the Mexican Museum in San Francisco.
storytellers would interpret for their
“The Tongue” because of her facility with
The museum commissioned works from
audiences. Montoya notes that the
languages, and the mother of Martin,
26 artists to counter the stories of the
Nahua people—of which La Malinche
a Mestizo born of that relationship.
“discovery” of the Americas (it was the
was one—had government and monetary
Perhaps because of its ambiguity and
quincentennial of Columbus’ voyage).
systems, and had written language. The
contradictions, La Malinche’s story has
Montoya’s creation, Codex Delilah: Six-
Aztecs also had maps that depicted trade
long interested artists. The fruits of that
Deer, Journey from Mechica to Chicana
routes. However, during the conquest,
fascination can be seen in Traitor, Survivor,
was a collaboration with poet, playwright,
the Spanish, hoping to supplant the
Icon: The Legacy of La Malinche, curated
and Chicano activist Cecilio García-
Indigenous culture with their own
by the Denver Art Museum.
Camarillo, who wrote the story that would
system of power, destroyed much of
become the codex.
this rich written history. Very few codices
Albuquerque printmaker, photographer, and mixed-media artist
Codices, the original Mesoamerican
survived, perhaps saved by a friar or other
Delilah Montoya’s creative journey with
books, were often made of amate—
European who recognized their value and
La Malinche began with a request to
fig tree bark—and have a texture
smuggled them to Europe.
8
SUMMER 2022
Art. History. People.
